Papa, Caleb & Rudi

Papa, Caleb & Rudi
PRICELESS

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

CHECK BACK IN....

Hebrews 10:19-25 (The Message)
19-21So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into "the Holy Place." Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The "curtain" into God's presence is his body.
22-25So let's do it—full of belief, confident that we're presentable inside and out. Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

Vs. 25 says “not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching”. There are so many ways to communicate; phone calls, text messaging, emailing, blogging, face booking, etc. These are all great tools that I wouldn’t want to give up for a minute, however, if we are not careful we can use them as our primary means of communication. Personal contact can become an afterthought. It is certain that Apostle Paul was addressing a society that did not have the same means of communication available to them that we have today, but for whatever reason, some of them chose to “check out” when it came time to assemble together to worship the Lord Jesus.

We can and should study the Bible on our own. We can and should pray and communicate with the Lord on our own. We can and should praise and worship the Lord on our own. We should be part of GroupLife and live in community with other Christians. All of these things are necessary for our spiritual, emotional and intellectual growth as a Believer. None of these things takes the place of assembling together with other Believers in a weekly, large group setting. Something supernatural happens when we come together as a church family. The fruit of the Spirit begins to operate. The gifts of the Spirit begin to operate. Communication takes place, both with the Lord and with each other, prayers are answered and salvation takes place as we spur each other on. It’s hard to spur each other on when we are home alone.

If you have “checked out” of church; check us out, check back in and worship with your Christian family at Heartland this Sunday.

Monday, October 26, 2009

OH, TO BE 3 YEARS OLD AGAIN.....

Took my 3 year old grandson, Caleb, out for a walk this week. The weather changed while we were out. The north wind picked up speed and the temp dropped several degrees. As we approached the house I told Caleb we needed to go inside and get a jacket for him before we finished the rest of our walk. The little guy just hates jackets. His response was, "Papa, I'm not cold, my teeth are just chattering." Where does a 3 year old come up with that? Oh well, being a Papa is the greatest!